Trent Taylor was having a strong offseason last year. That's why it was a divesting blow when he suffered a Jones fracture during training camp. Then multiple infections and subsequent additional surgeries ended his season.
Taylor was already practicing angry before the injury. That's because he was coming off a season hampered by discomfort following back surgery. Taylor looks focused this offseason, as he seeks to make up for missed opportunities.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan is excited to have Taylor back and loves what he's seen from his fourth-year receiver.
"That's been huge," Shanahan said Thursday on KNBR. "Trent, I think it's been pretty well-documented how good of a camp he had last year, and that was such a huge blow for us when he got that injury. And getting the number of surgeries he had to get with the infections he was fighting, I know how long of a road back it's been for him."
Shanahan struggled with the workload he puts his players through, especially during a training camp that had no offseason practices preceding it. The coach is trying to find the right balance between preparing his team for an unprecedented and perhaps unpredictable season and just keeping them healthy.
The injury bug, after all, as it seemingly does every year, has already struck.
"He's looked, throughout this whole camp, exactly where he left off before he got hurt," Shanahan said of Taylor. "We want to get him back into football shape, have him do all this stuff, but that's kind of why camp is so miserable for me right now because I'm either constantly upset that we're not getting enough work and then we need to prepare more, or I'm upset that I'm having the guys work and giving them chances to get hurt. So it's a very uncomfortable time for me right now.
"I'm trying to get the guys better, but then I'm telling them to go hard, then I'm pulling them back every second. Trent's one of the guys that he looks good, and we want to keep him working. But within about a week or so, I'm going to have to really just focus on getting them to Week 1."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.